Mashujaa Day is a day specifically set aside to celebrate the men and women on whose shoulders we stand as a country today. We not only celebrate those who will receive their honours and titles today, we also celebrate those who, before them, have made selfless sacrifices of their time, their skills, their resources, and for those determined to see Kenya attain or retain sovereignty; their lives.

We cannot take for granted the fact that we can move freely from county to county in a country that we govern ourselves. We cannot take for granted the fact that we do so on great engineering accomplishments; the roads, rails, ports built by our own men and women. We have to reflect and show a depth of gratitude for the fact that we can communicate in common language because there are those who took the time to impart knowledge of language on us.

This country was formed on the shoulders of great men and women who gave of themselves without hesitation, and it continues to grow in leaps and bounds because the same spirit of determination bubbles within us.
Over the years, we have sought to streamline a way of determining what a hero is and the process and criteria for their selection. The Kenya Heroes Act of 2014 and the National Heroes’ Council came to be for this purpose. Our heritage as a country is filled with stories of heroic acts by our ancestors, in their innovativeness of Infrastructure building, traditional science, amazing war strategies, as well as education and spiritual guidance. Our ancestors were extremely adept at living as one with our natural resources and lacked the sense of selfishness that is evidenced by our modern day selfishness.

Our Ancestors and the many heroes being bestowed honours today teach us that Heroism is a way of life. It is not taught. It is a mindset. Acts done without a second thought which are borne from natural instinct.
It is incumbent upon us to emulate their great and positive traits, and attempt to live them in our daily lives. We do not attempt to claim that they are perfect. We simply seek to highlight the good and ask that we all, in our small ways seek to act justly towards each other, be humble towards one another and avoid by all means, wrongdoing towards our neighbour.

If we seek to live these three values; patriotism, kindness, and honesty in our daily live, peace shall always be found within our borders